This was the kiss she had been longing for since she’d gotten back; hell, it was the kiss she had dreamt of since she left. They had said a lot in the past few minutes, and the kiss only elaborated on it until she wasn’t sure she’d ever breathe again. For so long she had deprived herself of love; she had built a wall around her heart that was supposed to be impenetrable, but Clint had torn it down, brick by brick, she had just been too scared to acknowledge it. Now that she had, though; now that she realised what she had been hiding from and let herself love him she felt like she was drowning in it, drowning in him.

She knew he was making promises he couldn’t keep but she didn’t care, she understood the sentiment behind it. He would never leave her by choice, and that promise she would accept even if she didn’t say it. She was having a hard time saying anything right now, and it seemed so was he. In the end, though, he got the words out. He was happy. No, better than that: she had made him happy. Natasha knew she made him happy in the past, but as their relationship grew more serious she didn’t realise until that last night they were together just how miserable she made him as well. She never wanted to do that to him again. He wanted more than she had been ready to give, but he had been willing to accept that just to be with her, willing to give up everything he wanted just to have her. No more.

She kissed him again, still breathless and needy, before wrapping her arms around his neck and just pulling him close, just wanting to hold him, to be close to him. “Good,” she said. “I want you to be happy.” More than that she wanted to make him happy. Maybe she wasn’t as willing as him to give up everything for his happiness, that way only led to resentment; but she was willing to meet him halfway. She was through being a taker; if they were really going to make this work, and god she wanted to, then she had to give more than a little as well.